ESPN’s NFL trade value list puts 155 players in first-round territory
Bill Barnwell’s 2026 guide lands after a year of blockbuster NFL deals involving Micah Parsons, Sauce Gardner, A.J. Brown and Myles Garrett.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has counted 155 NFL players he believes carry at least one first-round pick in trade value, updating a leaguewide guide that hits differently after a wild run of star movement.
The senior NFL writer’s 2026 trade value tiers cover all 32 teams and focus on what a player might bring back if his club were open to a deal, rather than what it would take to force a trade from a team with no interest in moving him.
Barnwell pointed back to last summer’s version as a reality check. Patrick Mahomes, Ja’Marr Chase and Micah Parsons were framed as players whose teams were not expected to trade them. Dallas later sent Parsons to Green Bay, according to ESPN reporting cited by Barnwell.
Star trades changed the math
That Parsons deal was only the start of the recent activity Barnwell used to frame the new rankings. ESPN’s rundown cited several trades or reported trade agreements that brought serious draft capital into play.
- Sauce Gardner was moved for two first-round picks, according to ESPN reporting cited by Barnwell.
- Quinnen Williams brought the Jets first- and second-round picks, Barnwell wrote.
- Dexter Lawrence II became the third player since 2000 traded for a top-10 pick, according to Barnwell.
- Maxx Crosby was briefly dealt for two first-round picks before that trade was annulled over medical concerns, according to ESPN reporting cited in the guide.
- The Patriots sent a first-round pick to the Eagles for A.J. Brown, Barnwell wrote.
- The Rams traded three picks and Jared Verse to the Browns for Myles Garrett, according to ESPN reporting cited by Barnwell.
Barnwell also noted that Garrett joins Trent McDuffie as a trade addition on the Rams’ defense, giving Los Angeles two major acquired pieces in that unit.
Not a shopping list
Barnwell cautioned that the exercise is not meant to say every player can be pried loose with enough picks. He used Josh Allen as the example: Buffalo would not be expected to trade its quarterback without another answer at the position, no matter how many picks were offered.
The guide instead asks what the market could look like once a team decides it is willing to move a player. Barnwell compared that idea to the Cowboys with Parsons and the Browns with Garrett.
There is also a limit on how far teams can push a picks-only offer. Barnwell cited the current collective bargaining agreement, which allows teams to trade draft picks only up to three years into the future. That makes players useful as part of major deals, as Verse was in the Garrett trade.
Position matters, too. Barnwell wrote that quarterbacks, edge rushers and wide receivers usually command bigger returns than running backs, tight ends and off-ball linebackers, a pattern he tied to how those positions are paid.
The result is a trade-value board built for an NFL where even famous names have moved when teams chose to listen. Barnwell’s 155-player list puts a first-round marker on the league’s most valuable assets, with recent deals showing that the hypothetical market has become very real.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.